Abstract: Energy and water are recovered from flue gases by cooling them to a temperature sufficiently below the acid dew point temperature by contact with an aqueous stream so as to recover the sensible heat and to reduce the water content of the flue gases by about 50%. The water by which the aqueous stream is enriched is subsequently flashed off to cool the stream back to its original temperature and the water vapor is then compressed to generate a higher temperature vapor stream which is condensed to recover the water and extract heat. The aqueous stream is continuously enriched with material such as calcium carbonate to control the pH sufficiently as to avoid substantial corrosion due to acidic gases removed from the flue gases and the aqueous stream is purged continuously or periodically to remove compounds such as chlorides, calcium sulphates, and fly ash solids picked up from the flue gases.